Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-08-18

hole IN the bag.
'sHullo, Tomr' said Potter one Sun
day morning, as Tom sauntered into
the room with half-smoked cigar in
his mouth. ''Ain't you toney? Why,
that cigar smells like rosew
Aunt Pratt wondered what sort of
rose had an odor like tobacco.
cit had ought to-" sententiously re-
marked Tom. ''Them fellers cost me
5 cents apiece by the hundred"
''Well, [ kin put up with my pipe so
fur; but you young fellers have got to
have your fling, | reckon. ByN-by
you'll fall back on brier wood and Mig
ger head"
'.Another hole in the bag" muir
INJURED Aunt Pratt, who had patiently
darned Toms threadbare socks and
patched his worn shirts for him every
week for months.
"Well, here / be!' shouted Potter as
he came in one Monday morning about
10 o'clock.
"Why, what has fetched you home?"
inquired his wife.
.'Oh, our fellows have struck; we're
goin' to have less work and more pay;
them darned capitalists has overrode
us long enough; we're bound to have
our share of the dollars we make, now
tell you'll"
For the mercy's sakew calculated
Louisa.
Where are YOU going to work
now?" oryly asked Aunt Pratt.
"Why, back again as soon as the
bosses come to terms"
s'But supposin' they shouldn't"
''Oh, they've got to, can't lose their
contracts, no way; we've got EN- where
the hairs short"
''But supposin' they hold out for
months time or six weeks?"
''Oh, we get allowance out of the
assessments; we amt goin' to starve."
"Who's paying them assessments q"
s'The fellers that have cot money
laid away; they're taxed for the GEN
eral good; so much a week till the
strikes over"
''Be you assessed"
''Lord! do you think I've cot a cent
in the bank? Four children and starry
irg wages. What's So day with four
in the family, an clothes, an rent. an
vittles, an light, an fuel, an doctors,
an Lord knows what ALP"
ga bag with holes!" ran through
Aunt Pratt's mind as she looked back
on the past six months.
Weeks passed on; the ''bosses" were
not only firm but hired other men in
the strikers places and went on with
the contracts. Potter sulked, and
lounged and sWore, and made his pipe
and himself daily nuisance in the
house. Before long Aunt Pratt dis
covered that the assessments were de-
creasing, and alarmed lest Potter
should insist on sharing her small
property among his brood, on com
munistic principles, she quietly with
drew herself one day to an Old Ladies'
Home, where the payment of small
sum insured her a peaceful and pleas
ant home for life; and from her retreat
she gave much aid and comfort to the
women of the Potter family, but re-
fused any to the two men.
Il can't waste my pittance on beer
and tobacco! she said sharply; and
she meant what she said. When she
died, her money was all left to the
Home where she lived, to endow two
free admissions, the three women Of
the Pottcrs to have the preference
Il have lived" said the document,
after the terms of the bequest." to see
what the bible meant where it says in
Haggai, i. eye eat, but ye have not
enough; We drink, but We are not filled
with drink, ye clothe you, but there is
none warm; and he that earneth wages
earneth wages to put in a bag with
holes;' and [ will not leave behind me
any dollars to go into that bag"
''Old crank!' said the disappointed
Potter, when the lawyer finished read
ing.
''Who? Haggai?" politely inquired
that gentleman.-Rose Terry Cooke.